Installations already exist for producing metal powders in which atomization techniques are used. In those known techniques, molten metal is poured onto a horizontal disk driven in rotation by a spindle rotating about a vertical axis. The metal is then projected outwards from the disk under the effect of centrifugal force and it splits up into fine droplets of metal which solidify on coming into contact with a fluid or with a cold wall.
Nevertheless, in all present techniques, the main drawbacks are firstly the problem of the powder being polluted during the operations of melting, atomizing, quenching, and collecting, and secondly the difficulties encountered in atomizing a liquid of a material that is perfectly uniform.
An object of the present invention is to overcome these technical problems and in particular to make it possible to disperse a suitably hot metal liquid without there being any chemical interaction between the dispersion means and the liquid, to create a quenching zone in which any possibility of pollution of the atomized liquid is eliminated, and to provide a "cold-chain" making it possible to use the resulting powders without polluting them prior to manufacturing the final solid product, by compacting and sintering.